CHAMPCAR/CART: Monterey: Team Player's race report

Team Player's drivers pick up hard-earned points as Carpentier and
Tagliani finish 5th and 10th at Grand Prix of Monterey.
Monterey, California, June 9, 2002 Patrick Carpentier of Team Player's
earned his second top-5 finish in the last three...

Team Player's drivers pick up hard-earned points as Carpentier and
Tagliani finish 5th and 10th at Grand Prix of Monterey.

Monterey, California, June 9, 2002 Patrick Carpentier of Team Player's
earned his second top-5 finish in the last three FedEx CART Championship
races on Sunday when he took fifth place in the Grand Prix of Monterey.
His teammate Alex Tagliani also recorded points in this fifth race of the
CART season, grittily garnering a 10th-place finish despite encountering
some glitches along the way.

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta won the 87-lap event and, in the process, he
became the first driver to win two races in the series this season. Da
Matta, who has six career CART victories, won the opening race of the
2002 season in Monterrey, Mexico. In winning today on the 2.238-mile
Laguna Seca road course, he finished ahead of fellow Brazilian Christian
Fittipaldi and Sweden's Kenny Brack.

Carpentier and Tagliani, who had qualified 6th and 7th on the starting
grid, were ahead of the seven cars that were involved in a chain-reaction
incident in the first turn of the opening lap a pile-up that forced two
cars out of the race. Carpentier was running fifth on lap 52 when his
bold pass of Bruno Junqueira put him within striking distance of third
place. But six laps later, as he continued to consistently turn in laps
in the 1 minute, 11-second range, Carpentier put two wheels off in turn
6. He managed to save the car and returned to the track down two places.

"I was being very aggressive all day," said Carpentier. "I must have
put two wheels off maybe a dozen times, but that one time in turn 6, I
went a bit too far. Fortunately, I kept the clutch in and I was able to
go back on to the track. I was really happy when I was able to pass Bruno
and I kept pushing because I wanted to get into third place."

Once he returned, Carpentier quickly got back into fifth place and with
four laps to go he had closed within three-tenths of a second of
Junqueira in the battle for fourth place. "We came really close to
passing him but I missed a shift in the gearbox, and I thought I was
going to break it if I kept pushing. The Team Player's crew told me it
was better to just lift off and avoid damaging it, because we had a
30-second lead over Scott Dixon (who was running sixth). I'm happy we
were able to pick up some big points today."

Tagliani was consistently running in the top 7 through the first third of
the race before problems arose with the traction control device, a
malfunction that made it difficult to downshift. The traction control
finally had to be disconnected and the absence of the device affected the
car's set-ups and balance.

"It was a frustrating day," remarked Tagliani. "With all of the
downshifting problems we had, 10th place was the best we could do. But
you don't win championships with 10th-place finishes. There is still a
lot of racing ahead but we're going to have to work things out and start
picking up the pace to get back to where we want to be."

The victory by da Matta vaulted him into the top spot in the drivers'
standings with 51 points, five more than previous leader Michel Jourdain
Jr. and eight ahead of Fittipaldi. Tagliani is in 10th place with 29
points, one more than his teammate Carpentier.

Team Player's returns to action next Sunday, June 16, for another
road-course event at the Portland International Raceway in Oregon.